The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-12
FALLS A THOUSAND FEET.
BALDwIN'S GRACEFUL DESCENT
FROM A DIZZY HEIGHT.


| If you can imagine little streak OF pink
away up in the sky, which has no visible
means of support, and which circles gently
toward the earth until you make out that
! it is the motionless figure of a man with
arms extended straight above his head and
his hands clutching a cobweb, you can get
some idea of how Mr.. E. T. Baldwin looked
as he dropped from his balloon at Rock
away yesterday afternoon. 1t is true that
away up above Mr. Baldwin's head there
was floating what seemed great white sun
umbrella, but at the first glance, and
during several seconds of the descent
there was nothing to show that Mr..
| Baldwin and the parachute were in
| any way connected save the fact that they
circled and swayed hther and thither in
unison. IL was not until the earth was
| nearly reached that the goSsamcr-ke
| threads which connected the man with the
curious white thing above him could be
made out, and even when they were made
I out their airy lightneSs gave little sug-
gcstion of support.
This is the third descent from balloon in
parachute which Mr. Baldwin has made,
and it was in all ways very satisfactory and
| successful. The actual height that he
dropped was probably something less than
| 1000 feet, but it as fully demonstrated his
ability to drop two miles as would the actual
| accomplishment of that feat.
The ascent in the balloon was made from
near the pier, in Jamaica Bay, where the
| big Rockaway steamboats, land 1t was like
an ordinary balloon in every particular as
| it Swayed to and fro in the light Southerly
| wind, save that from the netting at about
its equator there danglcd a crumpled mass
of muslin This was the parachute. 1t was
attached to the netting by light cord,
easily broken When spread out it was the
| counterpart in appearance of an umbrella,
save that it had no ribs, cord being sewed
into every seam instead, and at the top
| there was a hole or funnel, through
| which the air passed in the de-
scent. Without this the rushing food
of air woul' have to spill Itself out at the
sides of the big umbrella, giving it a sway
ing motion, which would not only be dan
| gerous to che aeronaut's grip, but which
might fling the umbrella itself so far to one
side as to empty it entirely of air, and thus
bring it down in a state of collapse to the
earth. The cords which ran along the
seams dangled many feet below the UNI
| brella itself, and were attached TO an iron
ring 2 feet in diameter To this ring the
aeronaut clings in his descent. Above this
ring, and little way below the muslin of
| parachute is another iron ring 10 feet in
diameter. This keeps the cords apart and
makes the spreading Of the umbrella GER
tainty.
1t was just $40 O'Clock p m when Mr..
Baldwin, arrayed in pink tights, with blue
spangled trunks, GOT into the basket. Fully
| 5000 people We're looking at him. The big
steamboat Grand Republic, which lay at
the pier, was black with them and they
filled the pier itself, and all the standing
room about the hotel 1t was the idea to
have the balloon a captive, and pulleys and
taCkling and several thousand feet of rope
had been provided. At 5:17 Baldwin gave
the word and the balloon was let loose, the
rope being reeled slowly out, and up it
went. 1t was like the ascent of a grand
| kite, and it looked like q very tame affair
at the start, but a great cheer from the
crowd and the hoarse roar of the Grand
Republics whistles followed it, The wind
bore it straight ont over the bay toward
Little Egg Marsh, and it passed directly
over the Grand Republics bows. 1t was
not then more than 200 or 800 feet high AS
the rope was paid out it became evident
its weight was too great for the balloon
Baldwin saw this about the same time the
crowd did With two strokes of his knife
he severed the rope and shot up like a
rocket. The balloon went almost straight
up, drifting only slightly in the light wind
to the southwark. The network of ropes
holding the basket disappeared, the basket
|
came mere hint of pink in the sky.
Then the basket was seen to sway away
over to one side. A pink speck appeared
for moment on its edge, and then shot out
into the air. A white, cloudy mass tore
itself away from the balloons side and fol-
lowed the pink speck in amad plunge down
ward
For fully Is or 100 feet of the drop the
parachute refused to work The velocity of
the descent became frightful and people
were just beginning to feel that they were
about to witness a terrible tragedy, when
suddenly the white mass, which hung over
the falling man, shot out into the shape of
a great glistening dome which seemed to be
suspended in midair A groan of relief ran
through the crowd, followed by a great
cheer and wild waving of hats and hand
| kerchiefs.
1t was actually one minute and twenty
four and half seconds between the time
that the aeronaut left the balloon and the
time he struck the earth, but it seemed an
age to those who watched his descent. AS
no got closer to the earth his form was dis
tinctly outlined in the bright sunlight
against the clear blue sky and it made
picture which those who saw it will not soon
forget. 1t seemed to be moving gently cast
ward, free from all support, the light cords
reaching up to the parachute being barely
visible. Circling gently downward, and
now and then rocking and Swaying violently
to and fro, the aeronaut at last alighted
gracefully and lightly on his feet in about
two feet of water near the shore
of the Little Egg Marsh. There was
only slight splash of water. The
crowd shouted and cheered itself hoarse,
and the Grand Republics whistle again
roared Two rowboats, one of which was
manned by Edward Tracy, who is.known
all about RoclSawav as an expert swimmer
and the other by James Griifen had been
stationed near where Baldwin fell and they
started to his assistance. They found him
standing calmly up to his knees in the water
with the parachute floating best re him.
In the meantime his brother stood out in
the hotel yard, looking mournfuy after
| what seemed Il lttlc white ball, which was
two miles o. more up in the sky, and float
ing gently OFF toward the Atlantic Ocean
THAT balloons conner he said II
guess we had too stiff a spring to the safety
valve. just before my brother lcaped from
the basket he pulled the cord that opened
the valve, and fastened it to the edge OF the
basket. The spring was So stiff that when
he jumped out it dragged the basket up and
shut itself. So that balloon is gone, and il
WINS good one, too"
Later in the evening Mr. Baldwin talked
with a few Of his friends, though he had
made up his mind to keep quiet and not be
disturb cd
IF had known he said, "that was
going 10 lose that balloon, would not have